There are so many to choose from and I'm sure after many DVD viewings there will be many to add but right from the off I loved the shot of thorin hammering the iron on the anvil,genius shot that because it brings to life a part of the appendices that would never have been if PJ and co hadn't decided to expand.I always get goosebumps when Bilbo draws sting for the first time in the mountain cave,classic.and the final shot of the camera sweeping up over the desolation towards the lonely mountain as we follow the thrush.that,is an awesome shot and another moment of genius.I may be back later with more Arrow....black arrow,I have saved you to the last.you have never failed me and always I have recovered you.I had you from my father and he from old.if ever you came from the forges of the true king under the mountain,go now and speed well

1 - As has already been mentioned, the arrival of Gandalf in Goblin Town. An incredible moment and I love how the bright light makes the goblins look - it realy shows how 'real' they are. And the music at that moment as well - the use of Gandalf's new theme.

2 - A very small moment but when Gollum clinks his chin onto the rock as he watches Bilbo during the Riddle game. He looks like a cross between a cat and an enthusiastic child and it's a tiny choice that I love.

1. In the prologue, when Smaug is attacking Dale, the brief moment when the dramatic music quiets down and we see a young girl standing over a burning doll. That is a brilliant moment illustrating the emotional devastation of Smaug's attack.

2. Bilbo sitting in his bed when the dwarves sing. It has a quiet, melancholic and otherworldly air to it that is quite mesmerizing.

3. The quiet stillness of the moring after scene, followed by the exhilarating run out the door and through the Shire to catch the adventure. The music and the burst of excitement always makes me feel like a child again, on my way to explore the forest behind our house, a world where strange creatures seemed to hide under every rock and magical beings floated silently behind the trees.

4. The pity scene, where Bilbo spares Gollum's life. The only moment in the movie when it got misty in the theater. I really felt sorry for Gollum, and it hit me that this was perhaps the single most important moment in both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. It is this act of mercy that saves the whole Middle-earth in the end.

5. The eagles soaring over the mountain cliff. In 3d HFR, this moment (coupled with the music) was just breathtaking. I felt like I was flying with them. I was there. I was in Middle-earth.

There are, of course, many other great moments, but those five seem to always stand out for me in every viewing.

(Okay, I promise to stop now.)"I left the night, with its remote and singing stars, and came in, to the glow of the fire, and the chair where he had been sitting, and the unstrung harp." --The Last Enchantment

I love them. It's not obvious at first that Thorin cares for them, but those small moments really do stand out. During the stone-giants' battle, when the rock seemingly flattened half of the company, Thorin immediately cries out Kili's( I think it was Kili, sorry; only watched AUJ three times) name first. "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards because a refusal often offends." - Terry Pratchett

2 - A very small moment but when Gollum clinks his chin onto the rock as he watches Bilbo during the Riddle game. He looks like a cross between a cat and an enthusiastic child and it's a tiny choice that I love.

Those little poignant touches make this scene so special...

I also find the lightning changes between Gollum-the-excited-child and Gollum-the-monster just scary. No matter how many times I've seen that scene, and no matter that I know exactly what's going to happen, I'm still so tense during it that I can hardly enjoy the truly superb acting. Every time, when Bilbo puts his sword away after their agreement, I'm thinking, "Noooooo, Bilbo, noooooooo!"

I'm not sure whether it would be scarier to have my experience of already knowing Gollum and what he's capable of, or to be a new viewer just meeting him for the first time and trying to figure him out--like Bilbo is. "I left the night, with its remote and singing stars, and came in, to the glow of the fire, and the chair where he had been sitting, and the unstrung harp." --The Last Enchantment

3. Bilbo asking Frodo to put up the "No admittance except on part business" sign.

4. How, even though he's got some brain damage, it seems that Bifur is still stirred by the dwarves' singing of the Misty Mountains. "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards because a refusal often offends." - Terry Pratchett

I keep scratching my head over that one..its a beautiful, evocative shot. But what gets me is that I think its a boy and not a girl, and the doll looks like an archer. and what the child is leaning on looks like a bow......just have the feeling that the child is SOMEONE. My first thought was "That's Bard!!" but the timeline doesn't work, unkess they were to age him on a different scale. But I just have a haunting feeling we will see that as someone's flashback and that we will see that child again.

According to the book, it's 170 years between Smaug's appearance and the dwarves' return, although in the movie they use 60 years since Smaug has been seen (but then, he might have been seen for a hundred years after the attack, grabbing a quick snack in the surrounding countryside).

Whichever timeline they use, it could be that she's a fore-mother of Bard's, and maybe we'll see that doll again... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It would be a link to show that burned doll, and find out that child's story later on. That's why I was stumped, because at either 170 years OR sixty (in which Smaug probably popped out for a snack or two) can't age the child quite right to be AUJ current human generation.

Ugh, I lovelovelove this film. But as it would take up entirely too much space to write down the whole film here, and as I would probably still be sitting here tomorrow, I'll just agree with all the little bits that others have already mentioned, and add a few that I haven't seen yet:

1. The scene when the ring falls out of Gollum's pocket and lands with a heavy thud directly in the front of the screen is just mesmerising. Especially in 3D. 2. Our first view of the HUGE amount of gold in Erebor and the vastness of those halls. 3. Gandalf saying "To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took's son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!" Love that, directly from the book. 4. Bilbo making the whole company stop because he forgot his pocket-handkerchief. 5. Bilbo licking his teeth after Gollum solved the tooth-riddle. 6. Galadriel's look when she sees the Morgul blade.

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

But I love the storm in the mountains, and the moment when the stone giants appear. The thunder battle clearly shows how little the dwarves (and hobbit) are in great big world. For me the giants are awesome in the true sense of the word.

When Thorin fills the door, and you feel like.you are looking slightly up at him. What made that moment so clever was that the combination of camera anglesand scale were from Bilbo's perspective.

So, you saw Thorin the way Bilbo first saw him, this relatively tall, impressive, obviously important dwarf and I realised that i, the audience member wasn't just watching Bilbo, I was Bilbo. That I was going to see Middle-Earth in a new way.

Not the sweeping grandeur of Lotr with it's epic sweeping shots and wide vistas but, in a smaller but no less magical way, that of a Hobbit going on an adventure.